The Maryland Solar Farm in Hagerstown will use 250 acres to house enough solar panels to power about 14 thousand homes, mostly in Maryland.
FirstEnergy spokesman Mark Durbin says the company is not interested in building solar power facilities, but they are willing to listen to proposals about purchasing the power from future plants, whether in Maryland or Ohio.
“FirstEnergy's actually one of the leading renewable energy providers in the region. We have over 500 megawatts of wind and solar, and this will be an important piece of that going forward so we're very pleased by the announcement.”
Durbin adds that the 20 year agreement ensures that Maryland Solar has a guaranteed source of revenue, while FirstEnergy receives renewable energy certificates, which are tradable commodities.
Construction is expected to begin before the end of the year, with the project being completed by 2012 and the facility being operational in 2013.